Programme

This series of lectures will discuss some of the developments in international human rights law in recent years. It will do so in relation to the extensions in this law and the backlash to it.

The issues covered will be: the extension of responsibilities on non-state actors, primarily of corporations; the extension of jurisdiction beyond the territory of the state, including in armed conflict and concerning the use of drones; the extension of obligations on states, especially in relation to the right of self-determination; the extension of human rights that might be violated, such as rights in relation to indigenous people and the environment, as well as the role of non-governmental organisations. The seminar will consider the tensions between counter-terrorism and human rights.

The lecture series will consider these developments and the resistance to them. In so doing, there will be discussion of both the opportunities and dangers that these may indicate for human rights legal protection. It will also examine different approaches to international human rights law that challenge the traditional positivist approach.

Lecture 1: "Human Rights and the Extension of Responsibilities"

Lecture 2: "Human Rights and the Extension of Jurisdiction"

Lecture 3: "Human Rights and the Extension of Obligations"

Lecture 4: "Human Rights and the Extension of Violations"

Seminar: "Human Rights and Terrorism"

Joseph A. Cannataci

Lecture 1: "Back to basics: understanding privacy as part of a tripod of enabling fundamental rights"

Seminar: "Bearing in mind the issues covered in the lectures, and any other Strasbourg-related relevant issues the students would like to raise, would it be fair to say that a resurgence in national sovereignty is deterring the Court from pursuing its ‘living instrument’ approach on certain issues, including in particular sensitive social issues and issues of national security?"

Mark Goodale

Lecture: “Human Rights in a World of Exclusion”

Lecture: “Human Rights and the Politics of Redistribution”

Seminar: “The Death of Human Dignity?”

A seminar that will explore the possibility of a post-human rights world, alternatives, subjecting them to scrutiny to consider whether there are, in fact, any viable alternatives to human rights, despite the “backlash”.

Geir Ulfstein

Lecture: "Reform of the European Court of Human Rights: Progress or Backlash?"